I feel the same way. I didn't really expect EJ to make the 23 with his current form, but I would have thought that his play in qualifying would have at least earned him a spot on the 30 to give him a chance to prove himself. I can only suspect that his hijinks at the Sounders and now at DC have finally caught up with him.

boyd has been playing well in austria. he is winning long balls, holding up play, and finishing with his head and with feet. basically ej in 2013. i don't like that ej didn't make the roster, but i would have felt happy for his inclusion for sentimental reasons not soccer reasons.

Not so. He has clawed his way back into starting regularly for Tijuana during the Clausura season. He's also got a lot of international experience for his age at both the club (Libertadores, CCL) and international levels (Gold Cup, WCQ, Friendlies).

Both of these games has seen Brad Evans at left back instead of right mid and before that Evans was out with an injury. When Evans plays right mid he usually falls back to cover for Yedlin when he pushes upfield. In the game against the revs there was no one covering his position. Yedlin's play hasn't really changed, but his teammates coverage when he pushes forward has. I'm not saying Yedlin isn't at fault, but I don't think he is solely at fault because he is playing the way Sigi wants him to but now there is no helping coverage.

Yeah, you can't deny the impact he had during qualification, but he's been playing like ass lately...and when you use "I didn't have to run as much..." as an excuse, you're gonna have a rough time convincing a national team coach that you're worth the plane ticket.

when you use "I didn't have to run as much..." as an excuse, you're gonna have a rough time convincing a national team coach that you're worth the plane ticket

Yeah... in the history of "oops"-moments, this has got to be the biggest blunder for affecting your own "brand" in the lead-up to a big event.

Even if a coach could deafen himself chorus of whispers about the walking locker-room poison that is Eddie Johnson, he can't really do the same when EJ opens his mouth and spews the toxic air himself... while simultaneously bringing into question his own work ethic and motivations.

I know Eddie Johnson hasn't played well this season, but I am SHOCKED he was left off the 30 man squad. He played a pretty significant role in qualifying too. Overall I like the selections though and I'm happy to see Chandler on it (a bit controversial, I know).

I'm willing to bet his lack of inclusion is caused by a combination of two things. 1. His lack of on field production this season. 2. His piss-poor attitude about his lack of on field production. Mostly that instead of turning it up a notch and being a leader, as he should have done, he decided to publicly attack his team-mates.

Jurgen is big on people having the right attitude and stepping up to responsibility, not just their current run of form.

I never thought EJ was as big of a lock as most analysts did, but I'm surprised Evans got the benefit of the doubt and EJ didn't. Both made significant contributions to WCQ, but Evans recent USMNT form has been poor while EJ scored against Mexico (though it was wrongly discounted).

In all honesty though, looking at the forwards brought in it doesn't really suprise me. Wondolowski has looked better for the season, and played well with the U.S. team. Boyd has finished his season really strong, while EJ has struggled to start. The rest listed were pretty much locks to be included.

I feel like it was down to him Boyd, and Wondolowski. One wouldn't be included in the 30 man, while the other 4 were pretty much locks. Boyd finished his season very strong, and Wondowlowski has looked much better to start the season. I don't think it's that big of a suprise.

Chandler most certainly will be. In the future, it's a battle between those two, so far as I'm concerned (unless Farrell or someone else comes out and dominates a Gold Cup or something between now and then).

Edit: Also Geoff will only be 32....So it could go either way with him, depending on how he ages and if injuries strike.

Yedlin isn't national team quality yet, but he is 20 and is close. It would be a bit of an upset in my mind if he doesn't take over that role before 2018 pretty decisively. He's gotten markedly better in the last 18 months, and continued coaching opportunities can only be good.

I don't think Yedlin will be going to Brazil this summer. However, Klinnsman must think he is close enough to being ready that through this amazing thing called player development, he just might be ready in 4 years. Even If he does go to Brazil, I don't see any of our RBs able to do too much against literally one of the highest regarded players in the world.

Understandable but there is plenty of time to coach in the next 4 years. There are at least 4 better players at that position for the WC, some of which are young enough to be around for a bit, even if you don't want to believe it (Cherundolo was on the WC roster at 31 I believe).

If Yedlin develops into the player he could be capable of becoming with the right coaching, nobody in the USMNT picture right now offers the skills he would. You just don't find speed like he has in every corner of the country. The more times you get to coach him, the more likely RB becomes a position of strength for the team rather than the last roster battle.

I really don't think he makes this WC roster, and if he does, don't believe he would play.

So how much extra coaching does he really get by being put in the 30, that's all I'm saying. I don't think enough to really make a difference in the long run when you are prepping him for a tourney in 4 years. I think his time would be better spent actually playing.

There are 15 MLS players in this team. In 2010 only 4 MLS players went to South Africa.

A total of 10 players were also on the preliminary roster for the 2010 FIFA World Cup: Jozy Altidore, DaMarcus Beasley, Alejandro Bedoya, Michael Bradley, Clint Dempsey, Landon Donovan, Maurice Edu, Clarence Goodson, Brad Guzan and Tim Howard. Bedoya is the only player who did not make the trip to South Africa.

Wow. I at least expected EJ to make the 30 man roster. Guess Boyd will be heading to Brazil since neither Wondo or Ice Man can bring the hold up play that he does. So that means it's Wondo vs Johansson for the last spot then.

I'd actually prefer seeing Boyd in the team rather than EJ. As I've seen people elsewhere say, if EJ is not starting in the World Cup (and he won't be), do you want him in the locker room? Against the teams we are facing there needs to be a positive atmosphere & togetherness because on an individual skill basis we are not going to beat Germany and Portugal. I don't see EJ contributing to that.

I support Leicester (just won the championship) so I've seen quite a bit of Williams for Reading, gotta say hes a real good player. Shame he isn't fit as he would provide a bit of variety to your midfield, hes quick and direct on the ball and can score a couple.

You're right about why they brought him for the 30, but honestly, he may even make it into the 23, even if he isn't used. The guy doesn't just get praise from Klinsmann, he gets it from Guardiola, Schweinsteiger, Ribery, I mean he clearly has an upside so getting to train with the USMNT and get a feel for the emotion of the world cup would be pretty grand, rather than bring a 26-28 year old who likely won't play in the next world cup anyway.

“Regis came with a better pedigree, but we’d never seen him play,” Lalas recalls. “We’d be standing there with our arms crossed thinking, ‘You’d better be better than what we have.’ We thought we were pretty good. We were thinking, ‘Why do we need this?’”"

...

"Sampson, for his part, told MLSsoccer.com earlier this month that he regrets adding Regis at the expense of the team.

“I made a mistake allowing Regis to join so late in the game,” Sampson said. “It affected our chemistry. I probably should’ve left him off the squad and let Jeff Agoos play left back. But [Regis] was a good player, playing in the Bundesliga. It was very attractive.

“But hindsight is 20-20 vision. The stability and chemistry should’ve been more important than one player.”"

Not all locker rooms are the same, his inclusion in the 30 shouldn't be a negative, especially when his talent is very apparent, whether or not it affects the team if he makes the final 23... Depends on whether there is good leadership or a bunch of selfish players in the locker room.

Am I wrong, or is it possible for all of the "Forwards" to go to Brazil on this roster? Dempsey and Donovan are both going, that's a certainty, and they're really a combo forward/mid/winger/etc. Johansson, likewise is pretty versatile, and better in a more withdrawn role and someone to play off of. That leaves really only Jozy, T. Boyd, and Wondo who could truly lead a forward line in a way we would want, and Wondo really is a late-game-super-sub-need-a-goal kind of guy.

I'm not sure. A part of me says yes because we have quite a few players that are good in multiple positions which opens up spots but at the same time they may want a bit more depth in the back and middle than up top.

Only thing i can see this squad lacks is pacy, skillful wingers (apart from Green, although ive not seen much of him). Would like to of seen Agudelo given a chance even just in the 30, really liked what ive seen from him last year at NE and this year at Utrecht. Other than that its pretty solid.

Poor Orozco Fiscal. He certainly committed more to the team than say Timmy Chandler or Yedlin, but his potential is certainly below them and perhaps Parkhurst. Wonder if he'd be here if Puebla had let him play in the recent friendlies.

Was hoping for Agudelo, and Feilhaber or Nguyen... I think Klinsmann blew it there.

I think it's the right call. None of the players you mentioned, in my opinion, has a chance at the 23 man roster. They don't deserve to be called in with no chance whatsoever of making the team, especially vets like Feilhaber and Lee.

Agudelo has done more with the national team than Boyd has, not sure why he stopped getting called in after the Russia friendly (where he had an assist), I thought he at least deserved a chance to fight it out with Wondo... and I'd have put Feilhaber on my final 23 man roster, all 23 are available for games at the World Cup and I think he offers something off the bench that no one else does (and showed it at WC10).

For the record, I would like Benny in my final 23 as well. I am looking at this from Klinsmann's viewpoint, though. Klinsmann has made it pretty clear that Benny didn't have a shot at the final 23. So it makes sense that he didn't bring him in.

If you watch the US - Russia highlights you'll see that Agudelo had a clean header back to Bradley for his goal, whereas Boyd actually doesn't head the ball on Diskerud's goal, it comes off the Russian defender.

Boyd's in better form right now (6 goals in last 4 games) vs. Agudelo (3 goals in last 14 games).

The Eredivisie is a FAR better league than Austria. There are only three decent teams in Austria and Boyd is on one of them.

Hey man, I'm just giving you a few possible reasons. My bad on the "assist" since I haven't seen those highlights since watching the match live a year and a half ago. Nevertheless..

The Eredivisie is a FAR better league than Austria

According to the UEFA Country ranking, Austria's the 14th best league in Europe. Yeah, the Eredivisie is higher (#8 currently), but Austria's considered (based on European performance) stronger than all 3 Scandinavian leagues, Scotland, and Scotland. Each of those leagues have plenty of players headed to the WC. Another note... each Austrian team plays every other team 4x, so at least it's almost like there are 4 other good teams.

Anyway, Boyd has been with the team more consistently since JK took over, and JK obviously rates him. And you don't brush off 20 goals across all competitions in the Austrian league, even if it's not La Liga.

Personally, I would have liked Juan in camp. I would have left one of the FBs home (Evans). But he's not there. I'd look for Boyd to get some PT and a goal against Azerbaijan.

Probably. The US is going to face world class wingers in Brazil and the team was having to lean heavily on Evans at RB through qualifying. IF the coaching staff doesn't think that Evans is good enough to see the field in Brazil then they should look at all available options. Him being brought into camp does not mean that he will make the roster.

I dunno if this is what Jurgen wants, but for the 23 I'd cut: brooks, evans, parkhurst, yedlin, corona, davis, edu.

I really wanna see Boyd and Green get blooded, because I suspect they're gonna be huge for us over the next 2 cycles. And I want Wondo[w] to get his shot at playing in a world cup...especially given Altidore's form and the incredible unlikelihood of us progressing from the group.

I think a lot of people think he hasn't been playing as much because we didn't see him in the CCL, which MLS fans follow a bit more closely than LigaMX (Maybe I'm wrong, but I think it's a safe assumption)

How? How can Eddie Johnson not make the roster? Sure he's been in "bad" form, but everyone knows that he WILL perform for the WC. We could have easily taken off Bedoya or Corona for Johnson. I know that it's going to sound stupid to side with him that it's the team that he's with that doesn't allow him to perform, but it's true and we all know it. When he's surrounded by great players and creators like those of the US, he'll get them in. Just look what he did against Mexico! Found space and finished it! Bad decision to leave out easily one of our best strikers and set piece players.